Purpose: The major objectives of the study are (1) to refine a methodology for observing fathers from diverse backgrounds interacting with their four-year old children at home, under relatively natural conditions; and (2) to determine the relationship of the observed behaviors to measures of the child's intellectual functioning. Subjects: 180 children who will be entering kindergarten in the fall of 1973 and their fathers: 99 boys and 81 girls; 44 lower class, 71 working class, and 65 middle class; all were white. Methods: Each father was interviewed in the presence of his four-year-old child and a tape recording made of the interview. The influence techniques used by the father to manage, and respond to, his child during the lengthy interview were coded by listening to the tapes. To assess the child's intellectual functioning and achievement motivation the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, some standardized Piagetian tasks, and Veroff achievement motivation tasks were administered to the children both contemporaneously with the father observations and one year later.